"The perils of the all-out aggressive mode” - Indian legend slams Mumbai batters after humiliating loss to J&K in Ranji Trophy 2024-25
Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has questioned the Mumbai batters' approach in their shocking defeat to the visiting Jammu and Kashmir side in their penultimate group stage game of the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy clash. The defending champions lost the match by five wickets, jeopardizing their chances of qualifying for the knockouts.
Mumbai boasted a star-studded batting unit, bolstered by the inclusions of national team stars like Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal. However, the imperious batting unit crumbled against the opposition pacers across both innings. Mumbai were reduced to 47-7 at one stage in the first innings, and collapsed to 91-6 in the second innings.
In both instances, Rohit Sharma was dismissed in a tame fashion, and the rest of the batters followed suit in a similar manner. Jammu and Kashmir pacers Umar Nazir, Auqib Nabi and Yudhvir Singh Charak ran the show with the new ball to inflict some serious damage.
The all-rounder pair of Shardul Thakur and Tanush Kotian had to put up innings-saving partnerships, with the former even recording a ton. However, their efforts were in vain as Mumbai slumped to a defeat in the end.
Gavaskar questioned why the Mumbai batters employed an aggressive approach when the testing conditions dictated otherwise.
"The dismissal of Mumbai’s Test batters once again brought to the fore the perils of the all-out aggressive mode of batting that is nowadays thought of as being central to run-making. It can work on flat pitches, but on pitches where the ball is doing something, there has to be a technique good enough to keep out the good delivery," Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
He opined that the thrill of hitting sixes has got the better of the batters on so many occasions in the recent past.
"More crucially, there has to be the temperament to accept that a bowler can bowl the occasional maiden over, and a few dot balls don’t warrant a big risky shot in response. The modern batter doesn’t seem to trust his defensive technique, consumed as he is by the thrill of hitting sixes," he contined.
"There’s also a weird theory that on a dicey pitch, there will be a delivery with the batter’s name on it, and so it is better to thrash about than spend time defending and trying to tire out the bowlers," he added.
Mumbai were bowled out in 33.2 overs in the first innings, and were six-down in just 26 overs in the second innings. Shardul Thakur was the sole player to play out more than 50 deliveries twice in the match, as the rest of his teammates looked largely uncomfortable out in the middle.
"Rushes of blood caused some silly-looking dismissals" - Sunil Gavaskar recalls India's Sydney debacle in BGT 2024-25 following a similar collapse by Mumbai
Much like Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy, Team India had also employed a spirited run-scoring approach to counter a difficult playing surface in Sydney. Needing a win to retain the Border-Gavaskar series, India were bundled out for 185 and 157 runs in the first and the second innings respectively, playing out only 39 overs in the latter outing.
In his column, Gavaskar recalled how India collapsed in a heap while trying to take on the Australian bowlers since they did not trust their defence to bail them out.
"There are more chances of a dismissal while looking to play in a manner that one is not used to, as was seen in the recent Sydney Test [between India and Australia] when rushes of blood caused some silly-looking dismissals. A bit of common sense and patience, rather than a fatalistic approach, could have gotten another 50 runs, and that could well have altered the result of the match and the series," Gavaskar opined.
India had attained a slim lead after the first innings, but they could not make the most of it in the second innings. Rishabh Pant scored an ultra-aggressive 61 off 33 deliveries, but lacked support from the other batters.